Our beautiful weather belies the danger in parched woods

Published 7:01 pm, Wednesday, April 11, 2012

We've been enjoying some spectacular weather -- brilliant blue skies, a bright, warming sun, weather that seems especially appropriate as we observed two major religious events over the weekend. Passover celebrations began Friday night in local synagogues and temples, and Easter Sunday services were held in Christian churches.

As much as we appreciate the wonderful weather, we must take note of the ever-present fire danger, the result of a lack of rainfall and exacerbated by frequent high winds. Norwalk has been fortunate that there was only one brush fire in the past two weeks, but the danger is still high.

As a result of the high danger, there was a Red Flag warning statewide on Wednesday. While the warning was removed on Thursday, Norwalk officials took note of the tinder-dry woods in the city's parks. Mayor Richard A. Moccia, Recreation and Parks Director Michael Mocciae, and Fire Chief Denis McCarthy announced a smoking ban in all city parks. The most vulnerable one is the 230 acres of Cranbury Park. The ban will be in effect until further notice; a violation carries a $99 fine.

The ban is aimed at a primary cause of such fires -- a discarded lit cigarette.

The action is not intentional, but the results are as devastating as if an arsonist had deliberately set the blaze.

As noted, the prime target for such fires is Cranbury Park, not only because of its size but because much of it is thickly overgrown in some areas, making it difficult to combat fires in those sections.

The use of legal burn permits is suspended until further notice. Officials are calling upon citizens to do their part in guarding against the fire danger, particularly those who smoke and might without thinking discard a cigarette butt.

None of these actions will change until after we have a significant rainfall, something apparently not in the immediate forecast.